Drive-In, Part II

Sunnyside Drive-In, Fresno, CA, 2002.

Photos by Wyeth.

Drive-In, Part I

Woodward Park Drive-In, Fresno, CA, 2002.

Photos by Wyeth.

Happy Steak

(Photo courtesy of Wyeth)

Fresno, 2002.

In the 'No, Part II

Blackstone and Nees, Fresno.

In the 'No

Van Ness, Fresno.

This is the dawning of...

Found this book in my old bedroom.

In his discussion of Wittgenstein, the author of the book, Morton White, adds a twist to the usual accounts of Wittgenstein's "therapeutic" philosophical method: he calls it "intellectual shock treatment" (225). That is a kind of therapy that has fallen out of favor, at least in Wittgensteinian circles.

Time Travel

A couple of years ago, there was a discussion, prompted by PJ, about what exactly is going on in the first Superman movie after Lois Lane is killed in the earthquake. Superman flies around the Earth a bunch of times and reverses its rotation. This is supposed to reverse time. But that makes no sense. We argued about what was actually being depicted in the movie, but I don't think anyone came up with a very plausible explanation.

I asked this question over at the (very interesting) Ask Philosophers website. David Papinaeu replied.

How to Do Things With Cover Art, Part II

A more recent version of the HTDTWW cover. I think the older version (shown below) is superior.

How to Do Things With Cover Art

(Thanks to Wyeth for the scan of the cover.)

The 1976 Oxford University Press edition of How to Do Things. It has a kind of Schoolhouse Rock quality.

It is far better than the boring Harvard University Press edition that everyone has.

Companion to J.L. Austin, Part IV: Truth

J.L. Austin, "Truth”

p.117: ‘What is truth?’ said jesting Pilate, and would not stay for an answer: When Pilate questioned Jesus before his crucifixion, Jesus proclaimed that "Everyone on the side of truth listens to me." (John 18:37). To this, Pilate replied "What is truth?" and left Jesus to address those who wanted him crucified (v. 38). Austin’s quote comes from Francis Bacon’s essay "On Truth": "'What is truth?' said jesting Pilate; and would not stay for an answer." (I cribbed this from here.)

p. 118: A pied de la lettre: Literally (‘the foot of the letter’)

p. 126: Air-mosaic: ?? Since Austin worked in Allied intelligence during the war, I assume that this refers to something like a patchwork arrangement of reconnaissance photographs of an area.

p. 126n1: There will not be books in the running brooks until the dawn of hydro-semantics: Shakespeare, As You Like It, Act II. Scene I:


The Forest of Arden. 

Enter DUKE Senior, AMIENS, and other Lords, like Foresters.
Duke S: Now, my co-mates and brothers in exile, 
Hath not old custom made this life more sweet 
Than that of painted pomp? Are not these woods 
More free from peril than the envious court? 
Here feel we but the penalty of Adam, 
The seasons' difference; as, the icy fang 
And churlish chiding of the winter's wind, 
Which, when it bites and blows upon my body, 
Even till I shrink with cold, I smile and say 
'This is no flattery: these are counsellors 
That feelingly persuade me what I am.' 
Sweet are the uses of adversity, 
Which like the toad, ugly and venomous, 
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head; 
And this our life exempt from public haunt, 
Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, 
Sermons in stones, and good in every thing. 
I would not change it.

p.128n1: onomatolatry: idolatry, worship of words

p.130: get a gamma: a gamma is a low mark on the British grading scale (alpha, beta gamma), the equivalent of a C or D.

p. 130: The Primavera: Greek spring festival of renewal.

Links to other posts on Austin: How to Do Things With Words, Chapters 1-6, "Performative Utterances", and "Other Minds".

Reading Lists

The Oxford philosophy faculty library keeps very interesting records of its 100 most frequently checked out books. This only gives a partial picture of what is being read there, because students check books out of their college libraries and use the non-lending Bodleian in addition to the philosophy library. But even this partial picture is fascinating: In 2004-2005, A.J. Ayer was both #1 and #100 on the list. John Mackie's Ethics: Inventing Right and Wrong was #2.

Of course, the vast majority of these titles are being checked out by undergrads preparing for exams, so it's hard to say what the grad students are reading. Even so, I wish I could see this kind of list based on data from the U of C--I wonder if any of the titles would be the same. Maybe the Nicomachean Ethics, the Groundwork, the 1st Critique, and the Philosophical Investigations. And the Davidson volumes.

Plato's Cave

Another drawing by Tyler (aka Tyrone Powers), a student Zed and I taught a few years ago.

I remember at the time he made this drawing that we were happy he said "a zany quest to define 'good'" and not "an argument for external world skepticism".

Mr. T and the Miniature Tractatus

Mr. T is holding a copy of the Tractatus, miniature edition (modified Mr. T bookmark by Wyeth).

A few years ago (maybe 4 or 5 years ago), Zed began to seriously abuse his free CTY copying by reducing works of philosophy to tiny sizes. I still have a miniature copy of McDowell's review of Bernard Williams's Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy. Zed made a whole miniature Tractatus. I believe that when he was writing his preliminary essay, he went to Tanzania with a "library" of his miniature editions.

I think I remember him being inspired to do this by getting a little copy of the US Constitution with a list of all the proposed amendments in the back. Some of the amendments that were proposed but not ratified included a proposal to rename the U.S. the "United States of the World". Another amendment proposed that in order for the U.S. to go to war, there had to be a popular vote. Anyone voting for war would be immediately drafted.

Exam Time

1st floor Stuart.

1st floor Stuart.

1st floor Cobb.

Everyone's Wild About Witters

Seminary Co-op.

Notice the misprinted Remarks on Color. I should pick up a copy as a Wittgenstein curio, like the rare "Ma Black" copy of the Companion to Wittgenstein's Tractatus.

Companion to J.L. Austin, Part III: How To Do Things With Words

J.L. Austin’s How To Do Things With Words

Chapters 1-6

p. 4: parti pris, French, meaning “side taken”; biased

p.8: totalisator, horse racing, bet taking machine

p. 16: purser, a person on a ship responsible for all papers and accounts

p. 17: “Because, despite the name, you do not when bigamous marry twice. (In short the algebra of marriage is BOOLEAN.)” MK’s tentative suggestion, via email: “Boole used exclusive, rather than inclusive, disjunction as his primitive logical addition. Maybe the idea is: a bigamist is either married to wife A or to wife B, but not both.”

p. 25: to crack the crib of reality, Victorian slang for breaking into a house (see also p. 241, “Performative Utterances”)

p. 34: ultra vires, beyond, in excess of one’s legal powers

p. 36: consensus ad idem, "Contract law is based on several Latin legal principles, the most important of which is consensus ad idem, which means a meeting of the minds between the parties or, in other words, a clear understanding, offering and acceptance of each person's contribution. Lawyers say that it is from the moment of "consensus ad idem" that a contract is formed and may be enforced by the courts" (from http://www.duhaime.org/contract/default.aspx)

p. 69: pro tanto, to that extent

p. 81: "‘Snap’. To say this is to snap (in appropriate circumstances); but it is not a snap if ‘snap’ is not said”. “Snap” is a card game: "The whole deck of cards is dealt out to the players who pick up their cards and hold them face down in their hands. Looking at the faces of the cards is not allowed.Starting with the dealer, each player deals one card face up in the centre of the table, making a pile of cards.This is continued until one player deals one card on top of another player's card, which is of the same color and value, e.g. two black sevens. When this happens the first player to call out 'Snap' wins” (from http://www.4to40.com/games/4fun/index.asp?article=games_4fun_snap).

p. 82: J’adoube, “I adjust”, called out when adjusting a piece in chess: "the phrase is used when the player on the move wants to touch a piece without being required to move it by the 'touch move' rule. It must be spoken before the player touches the piece to be adjusted. The player who is not on the move is not required to say anything before touching a piece. It is, however, considered bad form if you touch a piece when it is not your turn to move" (from http://chess.about.com/cs/reference/g/bldefjad.htm).

Links to other posts on Austin: "Truth", "Performative Utterances", and "Other Minds".

Companion to J.L. Austin, Part II: "Performative Utterances"

p. 245: poltroon, coward: “…lily-livered poltroons lacking even the meager courage of a rabbit” (P.G. Wodehouse)

p. 249: mouldy, depressed (British use)

(Philosophical Papers, 3rd edition)

Links to other posts on Austin: "Truth", How to Do Things With Words, Chapters 1-6, and "Other Minds".

Decrepit Bikes

Hyde Park, 54th Street

Hyde Park, 53rd Street

Oxford, Radcliffe Square, 2002.

A Companion to J.L. Austin, Part I, "Other Minds"

This quarter, I was T.A. for Ted Cohen's class on J.L. Austin. I found that Austin used quite a few words and phrases I was unfamiliar with, and I assumed others would also find them puzzling. So I looked everything up. Here is what I found in "Other Minds".

“Other Minds”

p. 81: IG Farben, German chemical company that made poison gas during WWII.

p. 89: “The awkwardness of some snarks being boojums”, from Lewis Carroll’s poem, “The Hunting of the Snark”:

"Come, listen, my men, while I tell you again/The five unmistakable marks
/By which you may know, wheresoever you go,
/The warranted genuine Snarks.

"Let us take them in order. The first is the taste,
/Which is meager and hollow, but crisp:
/Like a coat that is rather too tight in the waist,
/With a flavor of Will-o-the-wisp.

"Its habit of getting up late you’ll agree/
That it carries too far, when I say
/That it frequently breakfasts at five-o’clock tea,
/And dines on the following day.

"The third is its slowness in taking a jest.
/Should you happen to venture on one,
/It will sigh like a thing that is deeply distressed:
/And it always looks grave at a pun.

"The fourth is its fondness for bathing-machines,/Which it constantly carries about,/
And believes that they add to the beauty of scenes-
/A sentiment open to doubt.

"The fifth is ambition. It next will be right
/To describe each particular batch:
/Distinguishing those that have feathers, and bite,
/And those that have whiskers, and scratch.

"For, although common Snarks do no manner of harm,
/Yet, I feel it my duty to say,
/Some are Boojums-" The Bellman broke off in alarm,
/For the Baker had fainted away.”

p. 93: chivvy, to chase, worry

p. 94: allotropic, the existence of two or more forms of a chemical element

p.98: D.V., Diis Volentibus (Latin: If the Gods Want, epigraph) (not sure about this one, it’s only a guess)

p. 101: gravamen, the essence or most serious part of a complaint or accusation

p.104: Wykehamist, graduate or student of Winchester college

p.106: sequelae (pl. of sequela), condition that is the result of a previous disease or injury

p. 113: ex vi termini, By force of the term (in this context: simply in virtue of what the words mean)

Links to other posts on Austin: How to Do Things With Words, Chapters 1-6, "Performative Utterances", and "Truth".

Cognitive Pseudo-Science

From my bro's Free Library show.